Waverley Singers

A dynamic Messiah from the Waverleys

The following review was contributed by an unnamed reviewer and published after the concert in, we believe, the Farnham Herald

St Andrews Church, Farnham, is a fine venue, bright and well lit, quietly decorated for Christmas, with which Handel’s great oratorio is often associated.

For it was The Messiah that the Waverley Singers had chosen to offer that advent night December 14 (sic).

There was much that was familiar to the Singers’ audience: the building, the music itself, the captain at the helm, the orchestra, and indeed, most of the soloists.

It would be futile to conjecture which was the prime reason, the expertise of Malcolm Hicks or the professionalism of the Tilford Bach Orchestra, whose detail so often shone through.

Suffice it to say that, amid all the familiarity, surprises were brought out at so many points throughout the evening.

There were telling changes of dynamic in “Since by man”, a rearrangement of rhythm that highlighted “and Lord of Lords”, the crispness of the orchestral backing in the middle section of “He was despised”, the bouncy presentation of “His yoke” which allowed detail to shine through, exciting tempi in “All we” and “he trusted” (in spite of which the chorus runs were well carried off).

Mr Hicks’ direction is forthright, even energetic and is very clear, the chorus paying great attention, heads up, (especially the ladies).

All voices, in their turn, came through where needed, even the numerically disadvantaged tenors (a familiar problem), the soprano line gave us the melodies in a ringing tone.

The only slight jar was “delight in him”.

While there is much work for the chorus in Messiah, some of which was omitted, there are many well-loved areas, that fall to the soloists, who all served us well, with clear words, listenable music and no extravagance in ornamentation.

First to speak was, of course, the tenor, Philip Dennis: a lighter voice, but melodic and expressive.

The next soloist to sing an aria was the contralto, Judith Harris. What a delight to hear the words so low in the register.

One has to wait some time to hear the soprano; this was Diana Vivian, well-established locally and beyond, who gave her delightful, sensitive presentation, bringing out the joy in “Rejoice”.

The chorus (and trumpets) made a terrific impact with “Glory to God” after her four opening recits.

The base, Christopher Foster, is not forgotten (how could he be?) with “The Trumpet” near the end of the evening such a tour de force, tossing phrases between the voice and obbligato instrument, John MacDominic.

A nice touch, then, that the soloists stood to join in the last page or so of the “Amen”. Thank you indeed for a splendid evening.